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Adam L. Sisitsky

Member / Co-chair, Securities Litigation Practice

[email protected]

+1.617.348.1689

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Adam is a highly experienced trial attorney with a broad range of complex commercial litigation capabilities. Business cases and securities litigation are a particular focus for Adam, who Co-chairs the firm's Securities Litigation Practice. Corporations and individuals with significant fiduciary responsibilities, including officers, directors, and accountants, rely on Adam’s counsel.

Adam's practice encompasses a wide range of matters focusing on business and securities litigation, internal investigations, and government enforcement actions. Adam represents corporations, officers, directors, accountants, and other individuals in SEC investigations and enforcement proceedings, as well as in civil litigation. He routinely counsels public and private companies and others in matters involving compliance issues, including matters arising under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).

As part of the firm’s EB-5 practice working group, Adam also represents regional centers, issuers, and borrowers in connection with both routine and complex issues that arise in EB-5 transactions. He also counsels EB-5 regional centers and issuers in risk mitigation and policy development, as well as on FCPA issues in connection with the marketing of EB-5 investments outside the United States.

In 2001 to 2002, while on leave from the firm, Adam practiced as a Special Assistant District Attorney in the Middlesex County (MA) District Attorney’s Office. During that time, he prosecuted and tried numerous drug, assault, domestic violence, and motor vehicle cases in bench and jury sessions and argued bail hearings, motions to suppress, and probation violations and surrenders.

In addition to his litigation experience, Adam has published numerous articles on securities-related topics and co-authored the Securities Litigation chapter in the definitive Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education compilation, Business Torts of Massachusetts. He has also served as a trial advisor to the Harvard Law School Trial Advocacy Workshop.

During law school, he served as executive case and note editor of the New England Law Review. Adam was also a New England Scholar, and was twice a recipient of the Trustees' Academic Scholarship Award.

Adam also serves as a member of the Joint Bar Committee on Judicial Appointments, an independent and nonpartisan entity responsible for reviewing the qualifications of applicants for judicial appointment to all courts of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Adam is a highly experienced trial attorney with a broad range of complex commercial litigation capabilities. Business cases and securities litigation are a particular focus for Adam, who Co-chairs the firm's Securities Litigation Practice. Corporations and individuals with significant fiduciary responsibilities, including officers, directors, and accountants, rely on Adam’s counsel.

Experience

  • Represented Apollo Global Management, LLC and its portfolio company, The Fresh Market, as coordinating litigation counsel in multiple merger objection suits arising from the acquisition of The Fresh Market in March of 2016 by certain Apollo affiliates. Following the acquisition, ten separate suits were filed in federal and state courts in Delaware and North Carolina. Mintz successfully negotiated the resolution of all ten complaints in the Delaware Chancery Court and federal district court in the Middle District of North Carolina.
  • Trial counsel in S.D.N.Y. to former CFO of two-and-a-half billion-dollar company based in China, in a securities class action relating to the company's 2011 financial collapse. Having obtained an $880 million default judgment against China-based corporate defendants, Plaintiff's alleged that the CFO had acted recklessly and made misstatements about the company's financial health. Secured a favorable jury verdict and resulting settlement that required no monetary payment from the CFO.
  • Represented a global pharmaceutical manufacturer in a highly publicized antitrust MDL class action antitrust litigation, which was the first alleged pharmaceutical “pay-for-delay” case to go to trial since the Supreme Court articulated a new controlling legal standard in its 2013 decision in FTC v. Actavis. Case settled on favorable terms.
  • Secured, on behalf of a public company client, a $100 million settlement in connection with a dispute concerning investments made on its behalf in certain failed auction rate securities
  • Secured a jury acquittal for the former CEO of a publicly-traded corporation charged with criminal tax evasion arising from an options backdating investigation.
  • Served as counsel for a pharmaceutical company in a securities class action alleging that our client and certain of its officers and directors violated Rule 10(b)-5 in connection with the alleged failure to disclose clinical trial results for a product being developed by the company. Case dismissed without prejudice.
  • Represented a public company defendant in a four-week jury trial that successfully defeated a $30 million punitive damages claim brought in the Business Litigation Session of the Massachusetts Superior Court.
  • Obtained a defense verdict on all claims after a jury trial on behalf of several public company officers and directors in a securities fraud case in federal court in Massachusetts.
  • Represented the CEO of a global media company in shareholder litigation, consolidated in the Delaware Court of Chancery, pertaining to a "going private" transaction. Achieved settlement on very favorable terms for the client.
  • Secured a complete motion to dismiss in a securities class action case on behalf of PriceSmart Inc., a large multinational operator of membership warehouse clubs, and its former executives. The case, brought in the Southern District of California, centered on allegations that the company misled the public about its performance, among other missteps.
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viewpoints

In 2021, approximately on quarter of all federal securities fraud class action lawsuits filed nationwide were against life sciences companies and their officers and directors. These considerations are for directors and officers of life sciences companies looking to manage disclosures and mitigate risk before a suit ever gets filed.
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Mintz Members Adam Sisitsky, Nancy Adams, Jack Sylvia and Of Counsel, Kristen White discuss the rising risk of litigation and regulatory enforcement facing SPACs and the individuals that lead them. Topics will included the current SPAC litigation landscape, SPAC M&A–related litigation, including disclosure issues and breach of fiduciary duty in the de-SPAC process, D&O coverage challenges and risk mitigation and heightened SEC scrutiny.
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In a scathing decision by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, the Court denied class certification of the Allergan securities class action (“Allergan”). See In re Allergan PLC Sec. Litig., 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 179371 (S.D.N.Y Sept. 29, 2020).
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The August 20, 2020 decision in In re: Volkswagen “Clean Diesel” Mktg., Sales Practices, and Prods. Liab. Litig., MDL No. 2672 CRB (JSC) by the United States District Court for the Northern District of California (“the Opinion”), dismissing a significant portion of the SEC’s federal securities claims against Volkswagen as having been previously released by the DOJ, serves as an important reminder for why such coordination is important and how defendants may take advantage of the failure to coordinate, as did Volkswagen.
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This article lists five best practices that employers can adopt to improve their compliance efforts and reduce the risk of a substantiated SEC whistleblower complaint.
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In a boon for public company shareholder plaintiffs this week, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld state courts’ concurrent jurisdiction over securities class actions alleging violations of certain federal securities laws.
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Like Elsa, the Princess in Disney’s classic Frozen, once again the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has utilized its power to freeze.
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News & Press

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Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly covered an article written by Members Cory Flashner, and Adam Sisitsky, and Associate Edmund P. Daley about the rise in cryptocurrency whistleblowers.
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In its second annual edition, 28 Mintz attorneys were named to Boston Magazine’s Top Lawyers list.
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Twelve Mintz Members have been named to the inaugural Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America list, which honors the nation’s most elite courtroom advocates.
This column discusses a recent securities class action decision – the first-ever concerning climate change-related allegations. The column is authored by Members and Co-Chairs of the Securities Litigation Practice Adam Sisitsky and Jack Sylvia and Attorney Rebecca Zeidel.
Mintz secured United States Citizenship and Immigration Services’ approval for Peak Resorts, Inc.’s application for the company’s proposed Great North Regional Center.
Mintz Members Peter Saparoff and Adam Sisitsky, and Associate Joel Rothman co-authored the book Business Torts in Massachusetts, which provides a comprehensive and practical guide for business counsel and litigators on the wide range of "business torts" actions.
This Ignites feature article discusses President Trump’s naming of the acting U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair and what the move means in regards to recently imposed rules.
Mintz has named Adam L. Sisitsky Co-Chair of the firm’s Securities Litigation Practice. Mr. Sisitsky will serve along with current Co-Chair, John F. Sylvia.
Mintz Members Doug Hauer, Adam Sisitsky, and Larry Schoen authored this EB-5 Regional Center Business Journal column. The authors note with increased scrutiny of the program, they expect increased attention to securities compliance and litigation risk mitigation throughout the EB-5 industry.
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Adam is a highly experienced trial attorney with a broad range of complex commercial litigation capabilities. Business cases and securities litigation are a particular focus for Adam, who Co-chairs the firm's Securities Litigation Practice. Corporations and individuals with significant fiduciary responsibilities, including officers, directors, and accountants, rely on Adam’s counsel.

Perspectives

Section 18 "Eyeball Reliance" Claim Brought to the SPAC Fight
August 5, 2022
As my Mintz colleague, Peter Saparoff, suggested a few years back, Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, "while seldom used in the past, has been increasingly used by institutional investors in suits against banks and other ...
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Adam is a highly experienced trial attorney with a broad range of complex commercial litigation capabilities. Business cases and securities litigation are a particular focus for Adam, who Co-chairs the firm's Securities Litigation Practice. Corporations and individuals with significant fiduciary responsibilities, including officers, directors, and accountants, rely on Adam’s counsel.

Recognition & Awards

  • Benchmark Litigation: Litigation Star (2020 – 2023)
  • Lawdragon: "500 Leading Litigators in America" (2022)
  • Boston Magazine Top Lawyers – Securities Law (2022)
  • Massachusetts Super Lawyers: Rising Star – Securities Litigation (2005 – 2009)
  • Benchmark Litigation: Future Stars (2009)
  • Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce: Boston's Future Leaders (2009)
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Adam is a highly experienced trial attorney with a broad range of complex commercial litigation capabilities. Business cases and securities litigation are a particular focus for Adam, who Co-chairs the firm's Securities Litigation Practice. Corporations and individuals with significant fiduciary responsibilities, including officers, directors, and accountants, rely on Adam’s counsel.

Involvement

  • Co-Chair of Securities Enforcement and Civil Litigation Subcommittee, Boston Bar Association
  • Past advisor, Harvard Law School Trial Advocacy Workshop
  • Member, American Bar Association
  • Member, Massachusetts Bar Association
  • Member, Boston Bar Association
  • Corporate member (since 1999), Greater Boston Legal Services
  • Board member, Jewish Family Service of Metrowest
  • Board member, Framingham Historical Society and Museum
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Adam L. Sisitsky

Member / Co-chair, Securities Litigation Practice

Boston